


#1

by Cendre



Category: Minecraft: Story Mode - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-07-26 20:10:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7588366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cendre/pseuds/Cendre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story, as told by Lukas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lilie

**Author's Note:**

> With Episode 7 about to be out, I figured I might as well finish editing this :p
> 
> Will discuss the past more than the game right now, and some events of the game will happen differently, because some plot points are just strange unless elaborated on or fixed. Jesse is the male, middle one. He seems to be the most popular pick, and the ship with him seems to be the most common. Sorry, though, he won't show up for a few chapters! Gotta get that juicy backstory.
> 
> July 26, 2016.

“I’m just about wrapped up over here… You get those buckets yet, Lukas?” 

“Don’t worry about it, Lilie. Petra should be here soon.” He scanned the clearing, frowning slightly at the lack of her approach, before turning back to their work. Two hollow pillars of polished diorite stood a couple blocks apart, the column on the right opened up at the bottom, leaving enough space to reach in but not enough to enter or exit. They were attached at the top with a pseudo-bridge where Lilie stood, arms crossed. Dirt and dust noticeably darkened his light brown hair, tanned face, and orange striped shirt, even from over twenty blocks above where Lukas stood. He imagined that he looked similarly messy, taking off his dark straw hat to run a hand through his mucky blond hair in a feeble attempt to fix it. “You have the diorite and I’ve got the signs, so even if she’s a bit late we could still finish it up today.” Lilie smirked and climbed down the ladder that ran up the side of the leftmost pillar. 

“Yeah, we’ve spent days on this build. I’m ready to get that water in so we can start collecting that sweet, sweet loot.” He remarked, a dreamy tone creeping in. He reached the bottom of the ladder, turning to face Lukas with gold in his brown eyes. “Just imagine it, Lukas. Castles of iron, mansions of gold… We’re gonna dress up that bland town.” 

Lukas grinned. “The culmination of all our hard work. Too bad Petra isn’t interested in building; she won’t share the fame that we’ll have.” 

“Hey, remember what she said, right?” Lilie reminded him. “She prefers hanging underground to building.”

-

_“There you guys are! You gotta see what I just found!” Lukas glanced over from the tree he and Lilie were chopping to see their friend rushing toward them. She had long, ginger hair pulled back by a striped blue bandana, lighter than the navy blue shirt she wore. Like Lukas, she wore a sleeveless leather jacket over her shirt, but only one fingerless glove, on her right hand; a removable sleeve covered her left arm. She wore dark gray shorts and long black boots, worn down by her perpetual caving trips._

_Lukas raised an eybrow expectantly at her as Lilie asked, “What is it, Petra? Another new building material?” The boys had no interest in mining for stone, preferring to pass their day building, leaving them with few materials aside from oak wood. Anytime Petra had an excess of stone, they were more than happy to take it off her hands._

_She shook her head, urging for them to follow her as she walked. “Way better, guys. But you have to come down and see it – it won’t move, and if I try to mine it I think it will get destroyed.” Lukas followed her to the caves on the other side of the forest, puzzled. What could be better than a new block but couldn’t be moved? Petra interrupted his speculating, her pace nearly at a sprint even as they transitioned from grassy clearing to cave._

_“Hey Petra! You mind slowing up a bit?” Lilie breathlessly called, nearly crashing into a wall after an abrupt turn. “You said this thing isn’t going anywhere, right?” She stopped and turned to look at Lilie and Lukas, the latter panting and nodding in agreement, but she only grinned, no sympathy showing in her eyes._

_“For guys who spend all day punching trees and lifting blocks, you sure can’t run around a couple of caves.”_

_“Hey! That’s not fair, running around caves isn’t the same as building!” Lukas exclaimed with indignation. Lilie crossed his arms, Petra only laughing at their offense, holding her hands up in surrender._

_“Alright, alright, relax. I’m just_ really _excited about this. Don’t give me that look, Lilie, we’re almost there.” Unamused, Lilie was still scowling, but Petra was already turning to proceed through the cave. “I’ll take it easy for you wimps, let’s keep moving.”_

 _The trio continued through the tunnels with little more complaint, and Lukas took the slower pace as an opportunity to inspect his surroundings better. They followed a main tunnel system that formed the natural path, with indents and unsubstantial tunnels branching through the walls from where Petra likely mined her resources. One section of the tunnels had a group of chests, where Lukas assumed she kept the materials she dug up._ I guess when your house is the cave itself, you’re limited to where you can put the loot. _As they traveled deeper, the patternless stone and dirt shifted into more complex varieties. Unmined andesite, granite, and diorite spotted the walls, and even a few veins of coal were visible._

_Within a few minutes, Petra led them into a near fully lit room, where Lukas immediately noticed a black cage one block in volume containing a fire. He slowly walked over to get a closer look, more puzzled than before, narrowing his eyes when he saw what looked like a monster spinning within the fire._

_“Uh, Petra… you brought us all the way down here for some fire you put in a cage?” Lilie wondered aloud, irritation rising in his voice. “How exactly is this better than building? We’re losing daylight, but apparently you put the entire sun in this room, so I guess we’ve got that covered.” He gestured vigorously to the mass of torches on the floor and surrounding walls as he spoke._

_Lukas frowned at Lilie’s rapid dismissal, recognizing there was something more to the ‘caged fire,’ but Petra responded with a smile, pulling out her iron sword, causing the two boys to start._

_“Lukas, take that torch from right there, and both of you stand back.” She instructed, pointing to the relatively dark area of the room. He looked at the torch with more than a little worry; if it were removed, that section of the room would be dark, probably dark enough to spawn mobs._

_“Are you sure about this, Petra?” Lukas could fight a zombie off if he had to, but he was not a seasoned fighter like Petra by any means, and he and Lilie left their tools above ground. If something went wrong…_

_“Lukas, I practically live down here! If it wasn’t safe, I wouldn’t bring you guys.” He frowned, but she did have a point. Petra was known for being a lone wolf; she passed most of her time in the caves and would be familiar with the dangers present, but it still did not ease Lukas’ uncertainty of the new object in the center of the room. Trusting her judgment, he picked up the solitary torch and ran away from the darkened corner to hide behind Lilie, whose usual confident body language was small and disquiet._

_Petra positioned herself into a fighting stance, keeping her eyes on both the cage and the shadowed section of the room. For a moment, nothing happened, all eyes fixed on the fire cage, apprehension rising in Lukas._ Some monster is going to spawn, but what? Spider? Skeleton? Or worse: creeper? _He was not left wondering long, however. The mob he saw within the flame began to grow and spin rapidly, causing Lilie to let out a gasp. The monster, a zombie, instantly teleported from the cage to the dark corner of the room, Lukas flinching at the sudden spawn. Once it was standing in the dark, however, it moved as any ordinary zombie, and Petra slew it easily with three swift blows._

_“Petra! That was insane!” Lilie exclaimed, his previous perturbation replaced by astonishment, Lukas inclined to agree for different reasons. He replaced the torch, walking at a faster pace than he would like to admit as Petra sheathed her sword._

_“And how exactly did you find it?” Lukas added, turning back to face the two._

_She began recounting the events of earlier that day with a grin. “I was mining some iron down here, and out of nowhere I hear a zombie. I listen closer to the wall, and I hear a whole horde of them!”_

_Lukas crossed his arms, unimpressed with her eagerness at running into a group of zombies. “So the logical step to go from there is to actively seek out the mass of killer zombies?”_

_“Well, they drop loot sometimes, and I figured a whole bunch of them would be guarding something really cool.” She countered with a frown. “Plus, their moaning was getting on my nerves.” Lukas was still dissatisfied, so Petra added, “I can survive down here just fine, Lukas. If anything, I should be worried about you wimps, I bet you couldn’t even outrun a zombie.”_

_“Hey! I’m ten times the fighter Lukas is!” Lilie contested with a smug grin aimed at Lukas._

_He only sighed in response, acknowledging his defeat. “I just worry. If you get hurt, you’ll be in danger all alone.”_

_“I place torches everywhere, Lukas. I’ll see danger before I ever hear it.” She offered him a small smile. “I appreciate the concern, but trust me: I’m fine.”_

_He felt his shoulders slacken. “Okay, I trust you. Just check in with somebody more often, so we don’t worry.”_

_Before Petra could respond, Lilie wrapped his arms around the duo. “Not that I don’t love the happy moment, but I wanna hear more about this fire cage thing.” Lukas scoffed and shoved him away, and Petra laughed before continuing her story._

_“Well, once I killed the zombies and put up a torch, more of them kept showing up really fast. That cage is a zombie spawner! Anytime that torch is moved, they will spawn into the room. Do you guys know what this means?” She looked expectantly between the pair, her gleeful expression faltering at their hesitation. Lukas crossed his arms, electing to wait for her explanation. More danger? What good could possibly come out of something that creates monsters?_

_“Come on, Lukas, it’s a good way for her to get some combat practice, right?” Lilie nudged him with his elbow. “They’re just a couple o’ zombies, she wouldn’t get hurt, not too bad.” He added with a toothy grin. Lukas shrugged, thoughtful. An unconventional way to train, sure, but if it’s just zombies…_

_Petra cleared her throat, showing the two a gold ingot. “Sure, it’s good practice, but they drop loot.” Realization struck like lightning. Lilie stood mouth agape, and Lukas smacked his forehead. Why had he not realized sooner? Sure, it would take some time, but the materials the zombies drop could be used to build weapons, armor, blocks._

_“Think about it, Lukas! Top grade iron tools! Treehouses of gold! Palaces of diamond!”_

_“Zombies don’t drop diamonds, Lilie.” He corrected with a smile he could not hide._

_“For two guys who spend all day planning builds, it sure took you a while.” She commented, eyes full of mirth._

_“Hey! I’m still trying to get past the whole zombie spawner thing.” Lukas said defensively. “And speaking of taking a while, killing all of these zombies just to get one block of iron would take forever. How are we going to do it?”_

_“That’s where you guys come in. I’m not one for building, so I figured you could come up with something.”_ A build to effectively kill mobs… _He thought._ Dispensers could work… _But he was not familiar with redstone, and the arrows would need to be refilled anyways._

_“What’s the quickest way to kill these things with zero effort?” Lilie wondered aloud. And it hit him._

_“Fall damage.” Lukas remarked unsmiling. It would be dangerous to build, but if they could pull it off…!_

_“That’s a good idea,” Petra stated, “but how are you gonna get them up high enough? We’re deep enough to hit bedrock before the fall kills them, and we can’t move the spawner.”_

_Lilie exchanged a knowing look with Lukas before responding. “Me and Lukas accidently found a shortcut to move straight up and down without climbing, and all we need are signs and water.” He explained. The two were working on a perfectly vertical way to add a floor to the house, and before they had ladders handy, they used a waterfall to climb between floors. The water was interrupted by a sign they had up on the wall, and if signs were placed on every other space, they could swim up without running out of oxygen and travel back to the bottom effortlessly. Once they got enough wood for the ladders, they removed the water elevator from their house, but they still remembered the concept. “We could swim up and down freely, but if we trap the zombies in this room, they would have no choice but to swim up.”_

_“We can force them to fall down an adjacent column and collect the loot each day.” Lukas finished, excitement suppressing his former concerns. “It would still take a while to get enough loot to make blocks, but we could still spend our time building or mining instead of killing zombies all day.” Quick, efficient, and it would not put any of his friends in unnecessary danger._

_“That’s a really good idea. We can collect some of the stone and equipment I have you guys can start working on those columns.” Petra turned to leave the room, the duo following close behind._

_“Woah, you aren’t gonna help us build it?” Lilie asked with unmasked relief showing on his face, catching up to Petra as they climbed back up the caves. “Not that I mind just building it with Lukas, but you did find that spawner thing.”_

_“No, I’ll leave that to you two.” She said with a chuckle. “I prefer the mines to building stuff like that.” Lilie grinned to himself as they continued walking, puzzling Lukas._ You’re usually in such a hurry to finish builds, once you see how much time this one’s gonna take, that satisfied grin will disappear faster than that zombie. _The group soon reached the cluster of chests from earlier. “These store all of the stone that I’ve mined making these tunnels. We’ve got cobblestone, andesite, granite, diorite –”_

_“You’ve got diorite?” Lukas asked. “Ah man, it’s not even a choice anymore. That’s Lilie’s favorite material.” Petra turned to Lilie, who had already found the chest containing the diorite. “Well, his favorite material that would still be realistic to find. We can’t make this out of diamonds.”_

_“Who doesn’t love this stone? It’s such a nice building material, and it looks just like a cookie!” Lukas chuckled at the skeptical look Petra gave him._

_“I think the andesite fits the description of ‘cookie stone’ a bit better.” Lukas shrugged with a helpless smile as Lilie cut in._

_“Well, it looks like a different flavor, I dunno. But you can see the chocolate chips better in the diorite.” He responded without looking up, pulling out stacks of the aforementioned stone as if they were literal stacks of cookies._

_“Sure, sure, help yourself. It’s not like I need it or anything.” Petra commented, Lukas looking over to silently ask if she in fact did not need the stone. She turned her grin to Lukas. “I honestly don’t use that stuff at all, you guys are helping me out.”_

_“But we’re still using your stuff, and you did find that zombie spawner. Don’t you want to share in the spoils once we’re rich and famous?”_

_“Nah, that isn’t my kind of thing. Just leave me some iron for tools and some gold for trading and I’ll be happy.”_

-

“Yeah, I know, Lilie. ‘It’s not her kind of thing.’” He affirmed, slighted by her lack of involvement. It did not feel right to Lukas that she was refusing the recognition when it was her find, no matter how much of a loner she was. He hoped that they were not just getting preferential treatment because they were friends; a few iron ingots a day did not seem like sufficient payment for stacks of diorite, tools, and a mob spawner that can produce freaking gold. 

“Come on, Lukas, I know that look. It means more for us, right?” He laughed at Lukas’ blank expression. “If she just wants some iron as payment, who are we to argue? She wouldn’t have time to use that spawner anyways, she’s always hunting for diamonds or trading with creepy people. We’re the ones doing her the favor.” He punched Lukas’ shoulder lightly, and he rubbed his shoulder with feigned hurt. 

“Alright, alright. If you put it that way, it makes sense.” Lilie grinned with victory. Lukas shook his head before looking up. “It’s almost midday. If we want to finish it up by nighttime we should get started with those signs.” He pulled out a stack of thirty signs and handed half to Lilie as they started climbing the ladder on the pillar. “Don’t waste your time writing more terrible jokes; we’ve got enough of those in the house, and the only ones reading them will be crushed a minute later.” 

“Then they will have died a happy death. But you won’t if you fall off the ladder again.” Lukas sighed exaggeratedly. 

“One time. One time, and you still lecture me about the dangers of ladders.” The duo reached the top of the pillars and jumped the two blocks down into the bridge connecting the two. “I made it up this one, didn’t I?” 

“Oh, I dunno.” Lilie’s eyes gleamed mischievously. “I think you should take bottom this time.” Lukas pushed him aside and began climbing down the ladder that plunged underground into the spawner room. 

“Whatever you say, but starting from the bottom just means that I’ll be climbing more distance.” He descended rapidly, laughing at the protests from Lilie, who was stuck at the top with his sign obligation. Sometimes he could get on Lukas’ nerves, but Lilie was a good friend. He knew when to be serious, but when they argued over building ideas, he could just tell a bad joke or make a sarcastic comment and the tension would fade away. It was difficult when they first met; Lilie could build, but he was as stubborn as Lukas was reserved. Both boys even refused to live in town, preferring the freedom to build what they wanted.

-

_He was gathering the last of the wood, about to head back into the makeshift hut he planned to reconstruct into a cabin when Lilie arrived. It was getting late, moon faintly lighting the darkened forest, and he was too far from his own build site to make it back safely, so naturally Lukas let him in._

_“Don’t mind the mess, I just started this build today. Name’s Lukas.” He held out a hand for the stranger._

_“I don’t mind, maybe with me here we can fix it up.” He took up the hand and shook, ignoring the dark look from Lukas. “Relax, I’m sure you can build. You look like you haven’t been in town for a while, unless the zombies got you. I’m Lilie, by the way.” Ignoring the quip at his appearance, Lukas raised an eyebrow at the unconventional name. “Hey, that’s a nickname. My full name is way too embarrassing, so I’m sparing you.”_

_“I don’t think that’s how a nickname works.”_

-

It took Lukas some time to understand his sense of humor, or even that he was making jokes, but they found a rhythm that suited them. They would exchange recipes and build ideas, learning when to make concessions once they saw that their arguing go them nowhere. They saw each other’s potential and pushed each other to build better, more efficiently, their synergy increasing until it was no longer necessary to delegate who did what job in a build. 

Lukas was satisfied with his choice, or rather, lack of choice in partner. His only perturbation arose from his impulsiveness. Where Lukas would plan and take his time on a build, Lilie would hastily rush in, forgetting to take breaks and leaving the two running from zombies more than a few times trying to finish a build a day early – though fortunately not lately. 

But fearing for their lives was not enough; Lukas also had to deal with Lilie crying wolf. They were working on a treehouse a few weeks back, one with two floors. Lilie constructed the bottom floor, Lukas on top, when he noticed the setting sun and warned that they should head back to the hut. He began climbing down the ladder when he heard an imperiled shriek. Panicked and rushing to reach the bottom, Lukas lost his grip on the ladder and fell the remaining several blocks. To his dismay, there were no monsters waiting at the bottom, unless he counted the guffawing Lilie. _And he had the audacity to tell me to be careful when he’s responsible for nearly every monster encounter._ After seeing Lukas was too sore to walk back home unsupported, he apologized, but it did not lessen his reckless nature in any way. Lukas worried sometimes about him and heights mixing up, but he figured that if he got clumsy and fell during this build, Lukas could catch him. Or use his body as a cushion. 

Lukas reached the bottom of the ladder, scanning the spawner room. It was still torched just as much, but the floor was altered to slope down toward the pillar of diorite. Water would be filled into the room once they finished the elevator and got the buckets, pushing the zombies into the column. The only way out of the room once they sealed it off would be through the elevator, and the only work remaining would be collecting the loot. _I gave these two a lot of opposition, but this build was a really good idea._ He would never divulge this admission to them, though. He still had his pride to worry about; Petra didn't know about the ladder incident, and he was not about to put to words that he agreed with a mob grinder. 

The column was build into the corner of the room, allowing access on only one side. Lukas placed the first sign on the lowest point of the wall adjacent to the entrance to prevent the water from flowing back into the room, and one on the wall at face level. He began climbing up the ladder, alternating between placing a sign and leaving a block blank. After getting through ten of his signs, he heard Lilie call from above. 

“Lukas! What’s taking ya so long? I’ve been sitting here for hours!” He continued placing the signs without looking up. 

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve only got a couple left.” Rolling his eyes at Lilie’s poorly disguised snickers, he placed another sign, climbed up to place his final one, and… “What did you do?” Instead of three spaces between his sign and Lilie’s, there were two!

“Hey, I did it just like we planned! One sign on the bridge to block the water from going down the other column and alternating signs starting at the top of the ladder.” What in the world caused the signs to be off? 

“You’re sure you placed one when the ladder starts?” He earned a groan in response. 

“Of course, Lukas. We went over this.” The only other explanation would be the column being the wrong length, but they made sure the one outside was 24 blocks high. 

“Maybe we miscounted the number of ladders in this column. We started with 64, right?” A beat. 

“Uh, no, Lukas. I told you I needed one to make a way off the bridge.” Lukas smacked his forehead. They needed a column with an odd number of spaces, but the missing ladder meant that the tunnel was only 56 blocks high. “I thought you could keep track of numbers better than this.” He put more dirt in the wound by shooting a toothy grin to accompany his condescending tone. 

“I get it, I messed up. Let’s start over. Petra can find us a new spawner, and you can count however many blocks high it is.” He smirked at Lilie’s sputtering; he would do anything to get this build finished as soon as humanly possible. “We can still get it done today, the zombies will just have to hold their breath a bit longer here.” 

“If you say so. Let’s head up and see if Petra finally crawled out of her caves yet.” Lukas chuckled and began following Lilie up the ladder. As they climbed, he tried looking past him to see how many hours they had left to fill in the water, but he was not able to catch a glimpse. _You pick now to take it slow on a ladder?_

“Pick it up a little, Lilie, I’m tired of staring at your –” Before he could finish, Lilie suddenly stopped climbing the ladder. 

“Jealous?” Lukas shoved him forward before he could try anything else. 

“You wish.” They continued climbing, pace almost noticably quickened, and upon reaching the top Lukas was relieved to find that it was not too far past midday. _He’ll be glad to know that we can finish it up today._ He turned to look down at the clearing and saw Petra waiting at the foot of the column. Lilie already traveled halfway down the ladder. “Petra! You’re back!” 

“I could say the same about you guys!” She yelled back. Lukas began climbing down the ladder to meet her. 

“Hey, it didn’t take us that long. We had to put up all of the signs waiting for you to show up.” Lilie’s indignant voice said from below. 

“Whatever you say. I’m just here to drop these off.” She turned the buckets over to the boys once they reached the ground. “Don’t show up again unless you’ve got enough iron to pay for these buckets.” She added with a smirk, turning to walk back to her caves. 

“We’re getting this done today, you’ll get your iron back in no time.” Lukas informed her, Lilie bristling with excitement as Petra waved back at them. 

“Well, what are we waiting for? We gotta finish this up!” He rushed up the ladder before Lukas could get a word in otherwise. He shook his head. None of these buckets have water… He ran over to a nearby pond and filled his buckets with water before hurrying back to the grinder, hoping that Lilie did not break his neck rushing down the ladder. When Lukas reached the top of the column, he called down to Lilie. 

“Hey! Forgetting something?” He started down the ladder inside of the pillar. 

“I knew you’d get the water.” Came the response after a beat. “Why don’t you toss those buckets down and I’ll get a head start with the water?” 

“Just making sure I wouldn’t hit your head.” Lukas unpocketed the buckets and dropped them down the column. A few seconds later, he heard the fake “Ow!” and shook his head, smiling. Once he reached the bottom, he saw that Lilie had already made the infinite water source and was filling up the remaining buckets. 

“I’ll leave a few for you so you can make the currents.” He gestured to a pile of water buckets set aside. 

“Amicable as always. You know we can’t do that until the rest of the elevator is finished, unless you want to work in a room full of zombies.” Lukas suppressed a shudder at the thought. _A dark room with zombies pushed toward us? No thanks._

“That’s why I keep you around.” Lilie offered, grimacing at the glowing torches that protected them from the spawner. “I’m done here, let’s fill this elevator up.” He faced the corner where the column was and began removing the ladders with a wooden axe. He took a step back and emptied the water into the space between the two signs. He turned to Lukas with a grin, messing up his hair with his hands. “Ready for that bath?” 

“Anything to get this bat’s nest fixed.” He replied, pocketing his hat and grimacing at how he imagined his hair looked. _The only downside to a life of building – messy hair._

“I don’t understand why you wear that piece of straw if you take it off anytime you get wet. Putting it in your pocket won’t keep it dry.” 

“What, and get hat hair? Trust me, waiting for this to dry is the wisest decision.” He took out the hat and offered it to Lilie. “Wanna see for yourself?” He snatched it up with a challenging smirk and placed it on his head. Lukas snorted at the altered appearance. His short, brown hair was almost completely covered by the hat, making him look like a bald man from the front. 

“Hey, don’t look at me like that! I wear it ten times better than you ever did!” Lukas coughed into his hand and pushed Lilie toward the water. 

“And I have a name that fits me ten times better. If we start this debate now, we’re not gonna get this elevator done today.” Lilie swam up into the water and began filling up the spaces with more pockets of water. 

“Why don’t I just hold onto this until then.” Having second thoughts, Lukas ran over to retrieve his hat, but only earned a bucket thrown at him. “Lukie, could you be a dear and fill this up? I wanna get this done today.” Lukas frowned, stomping exaggeratedly over to the water source to refill it, then returned to the elevator, swimming up to where Lilie had progressed. He removed the next ladder and grabbed the filled bucket from Lukas with a sadistic smile. 

“We’ve only got six buckets, Lukas. You’re gonna have to make this trip a couple more times.” He groaned internally, but let himself float back to the bottom. 

“Good! I haven’t swam in a while, maybe I’ll be stronger than you after this workout.” Not awaiting Lilie’s indignant response, he collected the empty buckets at the bottom and began filling them up again. To minimize travel time, Lukas sat at the bottom and waited for five buckets before bringing them up, but as the climb became progressively longer, he had to constantly travel, collecting the empty buckets that fell as he swam. On the fourth trip up, he was facing the signs and paused when he saw writing on one.

generic elevator music

“Lilie!” He shouted, frustrated with the smile he caught forming on his lips. He heard the stifled laughter a few blocks above him. 

“You know you love it!” Lukas swam up to his grinning friend, shoving the buckets at him. 

“If you want to keep wasting time, be my guest. I’m going to fill these again.” 

“Relax, we’ll get it done today! I just get bored waiting for those buckets.” Lukas rolled his eyes as he sunk, catching a recently dropped empty bucket. 

“I can only sink so fast. Unless you want to make trips, you’re gonna have to wait up there.” He couldn’t hear the muffled response from Lilie through the multiple layers of water, so he continued to fall to the bottom without the expectation of an important comment. A few trips later, the final bucket of water was placed, causing the water to flood the bridge that would eventually force the mobs into the other column, the sign from earlier placed on the wall to stop the water flow that would negate the fall damage. A dirt block was placed to cover the hole to prevent the two from accidentally slipping and falling in. Lukas looked at the sun, now nearly at the horizon, with concern. _We’ve still got to cover the roof of this bridge, fill the spawner room with water, and get home through the caves. It’ll be dark by the time we get outside._

“We should probably finish this up tomorrow. All we have –” He cut himself off when he saw Lilie was already closing the top with the rest of their diorite, moving to remove the dirt block. “Lilie! We have to go back, we don’t have anything to defend ourselves with!” 

“We’ve got an axe and a pickaxe, don’t we?” Lukas narrowed his eyes. _The wooden ones?!_ “It’s still light out, and worst case we can hide in the caves, they’re well lit.” 

“That doesn’t mean we should.” 

“Don’t be such a worrywart, we can survive one night. You act like you’ve never seen a zombie before.” He pushed Lukas into the elevator, where he ungracefully sank with his arms crossed. 

“Not without a weapon, at least.” He mumbled, defeated. “When are you gonna give me back my hat?” If he was going to go out of his comfort zone, he at least would like to have something familiar on him, if not a sword. 

“I can’t give it back now. Don’t want you to get hat hair.” Lukas opted to ignore the comment, pulling out the buckets he had. 

“If we’re gonna do this, we gotta move. Get your buckets out.” He was not going to run into any monsters, if he could help it. 

“Already taken care of. Flooding the room won’t take any time at all.” Once they reached the bottom, the duo rushed over to the water source and filled their buckets, working quickly to flood the room, the current flowing down the artificial slope into the elevator. As they ran for the exit, flooding the spaces behind them, Lukas pulled the torches from the wall to darken the room, legs propelled by fear. 

“Come on, Lukas, that spawner does not sound happy.” Lilie was already standing outside of the room, through the two-block exit. Lukas pocketed the torches and rushed out of the room, placing the final bucket of water behind him as Lilie blocked the grinder with diorite. The moans of the first zombie spawning were heard from within the room. 

“What’d I tell ya? We got it done, and now we are collecting loot as we speak.” Lilie cheerfully announced between breaths as they ran through the caves. 

“I’m not inclined to agree until we’re back in the cabin.” Lilie scoffed, but did not argue any further. The rest of the trip back to the surface progressed uneventfully until they neared the surface; the sharp hiss of a creeper made them jump and turn around to look. 

“So, I guess shacking up in the cave is out of the question.” Lilie commented between breaths as they picked up running with renewed vigor. _So much for having torches everywhere… Where did that thing even come from?!_ Lukas’ fears on the surface were confirmed as well; once they arrived at the mouth of the cave, they were treated to a dark clearing rapidly filling with zombies. _And how are we going to get back through this?_

“Lilie, we’re screwed!" He hissed through gritted teeth, fearing that his voice would alert the monsters roaming just blocks in front of them. "There’s no way we can get home through this, without weapons.” Lilie only stared forward, eyes darting between the forest that led home and the surrounding grassland. “You can’t seriously be considering this!” 

“I’m not sleeping in a cave listening to zombies and risking a creeper blowing up whatever shelter we manage to pull together.” Lilie harshly whispered back, turning challenging eyes to Lukas. “It’s still early. We can run straight home if we watch each other’s backs, those zombies and skeletons can’t keep up. I’ll even run in front.” He put up a smile that his eyes did not reflect, Lukas scoffing and shaking his head helplessly. “You trust me to get us home, right?” 

“Lilie… ” Their house was not that far, and after the run in with the creeper, Lukas was not inclined to staying the night in a cave, but running through a mass of monsters with no sword or armor did not seem like a better option. He sighed; even if he disregarded the reasoning Lilie used, there was no way he could convince his friend otherwise once he made up his mind about something. He already had his wooden axe at the ready, clutching it with determination, as if the monsters outside were simply trees. “Alright I believe in you. But you owe me for this!” Lukas yelled his final sentence across the clearing; Lilie was already on the move. Lukas ran after him with a scowl, adrenaline spiking as he rushed into the fray. 

“Fat chance, slowpoke, we’re getting home!” Lukas caught up and shoved him forward, almost causing him to stumble in surprise. “Watch where you’re running! I don’t wanna hit you if I see a zombie.” Lukas smirked. _If you’re gonna drag me out here, at least let me have a little fun._ He grimaced as he swung Petra’s stone pickaxe at a zombie that got in his way. _At least, as much fun as I can running from monsters that want to kill us._ Everything passed in a blur; the monsters were loud and converging, arrows whizzed past their ears when they did not hit their marks, and the smell of rot was making Lukas lightheaded. Relief flooded Lukas as he caught sight of sections of the forest he recognized; after a few minutes of running for his life, the last thing he was paying attention to was directions. He ran into Lilie, who was frozen in place, staring at the ground. 

“Don’t look up!” He hissed through a strained jaw. “There’s an enderman in front of us.” Preferring not to take any chances, Lukas kept his eyes down, covering the top of his vision with a forearm. _An enderman? Those tall monsters he told me about before?_ He could see purple floating particles from his peripheral vision, and hear distinct, unfamiliar sounds from directly in front of them. 

“What do we do?” He whispered back desperately. _How do you get past a monster you can’t look at?_

“Follow me!” Lilie led him through the woods at a sedated pace, altering the route home to accommodate the looming threat. After only traveling a few tree lengths, a loud sound emitted from close by, and Lilie froze again, breathing noticeably faster. “Lukas, these things teleport.” He breathed cautiously. “He’s been following us this entire time.” _No._ Horror spiked through Lukas’ body. 

“We’re so close.” He scarcely managed to get out. 

“Do you see where we are? There’s no way we can outrun this thing, and any wrong move will set him off.” The moans of approaching zombies snapped them back to the matter at hand; there was no escape route and no time. “You’re gonna run home.” Lukas shook his head, stomach churning. 

“Not without you.” He said in a voice he could not recognize. “We’re going home as a team, stop with the final farewell tone.” 

“Don’t argue, Lukas! This is my problem, and I’m gonna deal with it.” _What?!_

“How is this your problem? You’re not the reason this monster is chasing us!” To his shock, Lilie ignored the statement. “No. You can’t be serious right now! There’s no way this is your fault.” He’s caused trouble before, but summoning a teleporting monster? Out of the question. 

“If you hesitate, all of this work will be for nothing.” He whispered quickly as the other monsters closed in. Lukas clenched his fists, arms trembling. There was no way they could take down the enderman, let alone the entire horde of monsters, but this? Lilie nudged his arm until he glanced up. His vision was swimming and it was difficult to focus on the darkening face in front of him. It echoed a similarly sullen expression, but Lilie still offered a small, sad smile. "Don't worry about me. I made it this far, didn't I?" He grasped Lukas' shoulder. 

_No,_ he mouthed with pleading eyes, but Lilie turned his head away. 

"Don't do this to me." He breathed, voice thick. "You're ten times smarter than me - well, nine times. Don't let my mistakes screw up your life." He pulled his arm away, and before Lukas could protest, Lilie looked up at the enderman and took off running in the opposite direction of their cabin. The sounds emitting from the creature became louder and enraged, and it teleported away from Lukas. 

"You're the best damn builder I've ever met, you're gonna take that town by storm!" Lilie called after him, propelling Lukas' planted feet to move. He was too shaken to think, to focus, to even botherswinging at zombies and skeletons that entered his path. He was unable to feel the punches the corpses threw, not even the arrow that lodged itself into his side. He ran until he reached the cabin, shutting himself in and collapsing near the threshold, consciousness fading. 

_Lilie... How do you expect me to build... when my mirror is gone?_  



	2. Endercon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lukas grows a little. 
> 
> August 12, 2016 05:16 GMT

The days passed too slowly; Lukas was unable to keep track of the number since that night. He came to the next day, pacing the house and waiting, thoughts muddled and detached, desperate for his friend to arrive as if nothing happened. As hours became a day, his frustrations rose. He tore through chests for nothing in particular, hoping for something useful, any idea to form that would help him. He angrily punched down signs hanging around the cabin - inside jokes between the pair - and broke item frames of various materials they found: birch leaves, a lily pad, a block of polished diorite... 

Walking himself to exhaustion and near starvation, Lukas resorted to sitting on his bed, warily watching the door while sorting through an archive of thoughts he fruitlessly endeavored to postpone. _So he's really gone..._ he thought dejectedly. _And it's all my fault. I could've prevented this..._ Only half lucid, he hardly heard the knock at the door. 

"Hello? I - ...I'm coming in!" _Petra!_ She hesitantly walked in, relief discernible on her face upon meeting eyes with Lukas. Dismay flooded him, however, upon seeing that she was alone. He focused his eyes on the floor, arms crossed, as he heard Petra walk over to sit on the bed next to him. _What am I supposed to say? How can I tell her that I got Lilie_ killed?  
"Lukas? What happened?" Lukas turned away, disliking her cautious tone. "You look like you haven't slept in weeks, and this place is a mess." He flinched when she placed her hand on his shoulder, but did not shy away; it eased the shudders he was incognizant of. 

"We... We can talk about it later. Here -" She pulled out a cooked chicken, a luxury for a team that dieted on apples in a forest with few animals, and handed it to Lukas. He hesitantly grabbed the chicken , feeling hunger yet no desire to eat. "Eat this, and _sleep_. I'll be back soon." Petra stood up and walked to the door, and he hardly registered that she was waiting for him to eat. He took a tentative bite; it tasted bitter and was difficult to swallow, but he still managed to down it. The door shut, leaving Lukas lonelier than the day he left town. He let out a strangled breath and lay down on the bed, feeling the consequences of his prolonged physical ad mental exhaustion.

-

_He was running. Breath coming in gasps, Lukas pushed on without back, frightened of what he may see._

_"Lukas, help!" The scream came from everywhere, echoing in his ears, but he ignored the cry, guiltily pushing on to avoid the monsters. The forest noticeably thickened around him, until the mass of trees became impassable. He began to desperately punch the wood as zombies, skeletons, and creepers swarmed around him._

_"No... "_ I can't punch this tree fast enough, but I can't leave through them! _"Help!" Lukas' call fell on deaf ears; there was nobody left to help him._ No, not me too! _As the skeletons prepared their arrows, he heard the all too familiar sound of a teleporting enderman. Lukas sank to his knees, covering his face with his arms in an attempt to shield his eyes as well as his humiliation._

_"Look at me, Lukas. Let your_ friend _see your pretty face one last time." His instincts screamed no, but he felt his head turn up to the enderman, eyes forced open to see the blurry face of his best friend. He was giving Lukas a grin that made him feel numb. "This is where you run to? After I saved your life?" He tried to look away, to cover his face, but he was rooted in place._

_"What was I supposed to do?" He wailed, feeling tears run candidly down his face. "We didn't have swords, how could we fight a teleporting monster?"_

_"There were two of us,and we had tools to fight with." He looked down to Lukas with a sneer. "We could have taken him, but I thought you were tougher than_ this _. What a disappointment." Leaving him to his demise, the enderman teleported away with a dismissive final glance. Lukas was no longer paralyzed by the stare, but he was still rendered immobile; he stood up, back to the trees, as zombies lumbered closer._

_"I'm so sorry, Lilie!" He chocked out. "I couldn't... "_ I was too afraid to save my best friend... _He grimaced at the approaching zombies as skeletons pulled their arrows back._...and now there's nobody left to save me!

-

Lukas woke up in a cold sweat, taking fast and heavy breaths. After taking a moment to regain his composure, he sat up and apprehended the sorry state of the room. The floor was strewn with signs and the contents of their chests, materials were scattered across the room, and sections of the wood plank flooring were missing altogether. _I did all of this..._ he thought, mortified that Petra walked into the cabin to find such a mess. He pinched the bridge of his nose to get rid of the unabating headache, to no avail.

Closer to his bed, multiple broken arrows rested on the ground among his sheets and pillow, and memories of the nightmare flooded back. _Lilie's gone... and it's all my fault._ He glanced resignedly across the wrecked room, starting when he heard the door open. Petra stepped in tentatively, wearing a solemn face that changed to shock when she saw Lukas sitting on the disheveled bed. 

"Lukas! Are you alright?" She shut the door, rushing over to sit on the bed next to him. He blinked, and quickly wiped his face after feeling tears roll down his face, sighing. _I have no choice with this, do I?_

"No, Lilie's... " He squeezed his eyes shut, ashamed. "He's gone. He's gone, and it's all my fault!" His frustration rose, and he clenched his fists, refusing to look up at Petra even as she called his name. 

"Lukas! At least tell me what happened." His eyes widened, vexation quickly replaced by guilt. "If you don't talk to somebody, you'll just sit in this room until you become a zombie yourself. Besides, how else am I supposed to believe that this was your fault? You're too much of a softie for that." 

"That's the point!" He retorted with a frown. "I was too much of a chicken to do anything." He slouched, staring at the patterns in the planks, ignoring that it took four hands to collect the wood and place the floorboards. "I led him into danger and abandoned him!" 

"What did you guys do after I left?" Lukas hesitated. 

"You're going to hate me if I tell you."

"I'm going to hate you if you don't tell me. He was my friend too, Lukas." _Was_ , he thought bitterly, _no thanks to me._ He owed Petra this much, at least. 

"Well, after you left, we started working on that elevator." He faltered, remembering Lilie's joking and laughter, just hours before they went into the woods. "Once we finished, we saw that it was getting late, but we really wanted to finish the build." 

"That's not true. Why would a 'big chicken' like you risk staying out late for a build all the way across the woods?" Lukas glanced over at her with a frown. 

"Fine. He wanted to stay out, but -" He turned away guiltily. " ...but I let him. I let him go into danger, I slowed him -"

"Lukas!" She snapped. There was a noticeable beat before Petra continued, and Lukas braced for the worst, but the response was antithetical to what he anticipated. "Do you hear yourself? You're not his keeper." He shook his head. "Do you think anything you said would have convinced him to finish the build tomorrow?" Lukas thought over her words. He was able to get him home on time on a supposedly finished build before, but those were minor builds. There was no significant incentive to complete them quickly like the grinder. 

"I guess he's just too headstrong." He reluctantly conceded. "But he took on that enderman alone. If I -"

"Wait, did you say _enderman?"_ Her tone became grave. He nodded hesitantly at the rhetorical question. "I've seen them before, and I hope I never have to fight one. If those things scare even me, it was smart of you to run." Lukas was unwilling to agree. 

"But I left Lilie behind." He said in a small voice. "He was distracting it, but I could have helped him take it." Petra scoffed. 

"With stone tools?!" Lukas flinched, and Petra softened her voice. "Sorry, but... Those things are really strong. And you never know if they have friends around. He dragged you out there, and had the good sense not to get you killed. Stop blaming yourself so much, you did everything you could." _It sure doesn't feel like I did anything._ She continued, recognizing his skepticism. "Lately, these monsters have been getting more and more dangerous. Zombies punch harder, mobs spawn more frequently, weapons don't kill them as easily... " She paused, gazing at the broken arrows strewn across the floor. "The skeletons are more accurate. Did you feel how hard these arrows were hitting?" 

"Honestly? I was just focused on reaching the house before I died." he paused, reflecting back on that night. _There were more monsters than normal that night... there was even a creeper in the cave!_ "That doesn't give us an excuse for being out late, though." 

"No, but it'll be an incentive to not go outside." _And it only took losing my best friend to figure that one out,_ he reflected bitterly. "Why don't you carry a weapon on you? Defending yourself is a bit more important than 'wasting' a few blocks of building materials." The excuse Lukas and Lilie pulled before stung. _So much for being frugal._ Petra pulled out a cobblestone for each hand. 

"There's no way I'd want to get close enough to use a sword, Petra." She handed him the cobblestone. 

"Then make a bow. Nobody wants to get near them, but it's a precaution." She pulled out some flint as well, but he hesitated to take it. "I can get more flint, Lukas. I have too much of it." 

"I can't take all of this stuff, how am I supposed to pay you back?" Petra traded the materials she found in town, and always got paid what she earned. 

"Hey, don't worry about it," She said with embarrassment, standing up to leave. "Just quit moping around. I can't lose two friends."

-

The first few weeks were difficult, but Lukas held true to Petra's words, dedicating his time to building rather than dwelling. He carefully crafted the bow, the arrows, and the sword, keeping himself productive by straightening up and redesigning the cabin that never got completely finished. He picked up the dropped objects and resorted the chests, placing signs above them to specify the contents. The crafting table and furnace were replaced on the opposite wall, and Lukas crafted another table to go on the second floor.

He moved the beds to the top floor, figuring that it would be more defensible to sleep with a set of stairs blocking monsters as well as a wooden door. He crafted stairs to redo the roof and make the room appear larger, while also crafting fences to add windows to each of the four walls. He divided the room in half, constructing two bedrooms on the side further from the stairs, and placing the crafting table, another chest, and some chairs in the remaining space. 

Satisfied with the remodeling, Lukas dedicated his time to practicing with the bow. The first few tries with it were... embarrassing. He did not pull the string back far enough the first time, terrified of somehow injuring himself, and overcompensated on the next shot, getting half of the arrow stuck in a nearby tree. _This is going to take some getting used to... But once I master this, I won't have to get near those monsters again._

He spent the daylight hours practicing combat, and attempted new building recipes when he was unable to fall asleep. Dark thoughts and memories of Lilie invaded his mind when the moon was out, but Lukas was determined to remain productive and not let himself get dragged down; he owed it to Petra as well as his old friend. Supplies were scarce aside from wood, so he experimented with oak and birch from the surrounding woods. 

When Lilie crafted sticks and axes with birch wood, they looked exactly like their oak wood counterparts, but Lukas' tools always retained their lighter coloration. He did not think much of it at the time, but now he wanted to see if other common objects would appear lighter as well. To his astonishment, the crafting table and chest both preserved their birch appearance. _I wonder why this didn't work for Lilie..._

-

Confident that Petra could come over without leaving him entirely mortified, Lukas decided to travel back to the town, more specifically to the library for research. He figured, if he was going to see dangerous monsters more often, he would be better off learning what he's up against. With discontent filling his mind, he spent the morning walking through the woods until he reached the familiar gravel path leading to the gates.

The town was stable and the people were friendly, but building freedoms were severely restricted. Lukas could never stand living in a town with such limited space, with no plans for future expansion along the walls. Even without the limited space concerns, building anything was implausible. Collecting materials from outside the walls was the only way to have the resources to build and trade with others. Figuring that he would have to leave town to collect the materials either way, he collected his few belongings and moved into the alluring woods nearby. He did not realize the autonomy came at the cost of his safety. 

-

_Lukas did not own any weapons; his only tools to speak of were a wooden axe and a crafting table, his only materials were a few oak wood planks. The day elapsed too quickly. He managed to built a shabby hut from a few nearby oak, but once nightfall arrived, he was forced to hide from the monsters without a bed to pass the night. Exhausted, he made it a priority in the morning to get wool, but was chagrined when whom he would later know as Petra arrived, amused by his plight. He did not have a shears, and was getting nowhere fast using an axe on the unfortunate animal. She tossed him the shears and told him to shear the sheep in the area. At Lukas' skepticism, she simply said she would make it worth his time and left. He figured it would be the only way to get some wool at the rate he was going, and spent the day shearing the sheep, which, to his surprise, grow their coats back fairly quickly. Petra returned before sundown and let him keep half the stack for his trouble, and continued to teach him survival skills by having him do her favors._

-

_Man, was I unprepared,_ Lukas thought, glancing around at the relatively unchanged town he entered. _If Petra didn't help me out, I would have ran back to this place within two days._ A few townsfolk recognized him, old friends from before he left, but for the most part they simply cast a curious glance before turning back to their business. He reached the other side of town, watching as the townscape became unfamiliar. _Looks like they actually expanded here,_ he noted. Houses on this side of town did not exactly match the rest of the architecture, and were made with the surrounding birch wood rather than oak, with a few houses made of stone and wooden accents. 

Even the library received accommodations; a second floor of cobblestone and brick was added, and the first floor was no longer wooden, matching the floor above. More windows were added as well, a difference noticeable when he stepped in. The room was not much dimmer than outside, and the towering walls dividing the shelves were no longer there. Redstone lamps were scattered throughout the space, and a few people were lounging on chairs at wooden tables. 

"Hello! Can I help you find anything?" A cheerful voice called from his left. Embarrassed at being caught marveling at the doorway, he turned to the desk, scratching the back of his head. Behind the desk sat a younger girl with dark skin, a red vest covering her white shirt, and a yellow-green beanie covering most of her jet-black hair. She looked even more embarrassed that Lukas felt, both hands covering her mouth. "I'm sorry!" She whispered, genuine concern shining in her dark brown eyes as she looked around the room. "I'm supposed to be quiet, but I keep forgetting! I just started working here and I'm really excited about it, but I keep blowing it." 

"Hey, take it easy!" Lukas responded quietly. "You haven't blown it, nobody in here minds." He looked out the corner of his eyes, relieved to see that her fuss has not alerted any of the visitors who may complain. "I'm sure they value your energy, a place like this tends to get a bit boring." She looked back up to him, her previous worry replaced by an energetic smile. 

"Thank you, sir! Oh, my name's Olivia. If you need help finding a book, just come see me." Lukas grinned. She was a friendly villager, she just needed more confidence around others. 

"Thanks. I'm Lukas, by the way." He turned to find the book he needed, but soon realized that he had only been inside of the library once before, and it was not to do research. He might as well have been walking in blind with the number of shelves in the room. "Actually, do you have any books on monsters?" He asked, walking back to Olivia. "I underestimated how easy it would be to find anything in here." Her smile faltered before she stood up and gestured for him to follow. 

"Yes, we have a few on the second floor." Lukas trailed behind her up the stairs, puzzled by her reaction. She halted by a bookcase along one of the walls. "Here we are... You're - You're not planning on actually fighting them, are you?" He frowned and turned his head away. 

"Not if I can help it." He unconsciously rubbed his arm, feeling the fresh sting of arrows as he fled, defenseless. He faced Olivia again. "They are getting more dangerous, and if I run into one again I at least want to know what I'm up against." He regarded her closer. She did not look very old, and has probably never seen a monster, at least up close. Lukas could not blame her; the townspeople would talk about the monsters behind the gates, but no amount of talk could prepare anyone for what's outside of town. He was terrified his first night alone, listening to monsters he had never seen before beat on his door. 

"You mean... You've been out there before?" She looked out the window where the surrounding forest loomed. "I've heard stories about what those monsters are like. How bad are they? Some say that zombies are dead people and they'll tear your face off with one punch!" He hesitated, still trying to push the events from weeks before out of his mind. 

"They're nothing to be taken lightly, that's for sure. I was... unprepared. Reckless. If you don't know what you're doing and don't prepare, it's going to cost you." Noticing Olivia's terrified expression, he quickly pulled out his bow. "That's why I carry this on me. They can't hurt you if you keep your distance." She looked closely at the bow, previous fears forgotten. Lukas let out a grateful sigh that she did not pursue the issue any further. 

"A bow!" She breathed, eyes widening. "You don't see many of these, living in town. But how did you craft it out of birch? I thought all wood planks turn into the same color sticks." Lukas widened his eyes. _So birch weapons are not normal either..._ He regarded the light colored bow again before speaking. 

"I just made the sticks out of birch wood and crafted the bow. Here -" He pulled out a couple of birch wood planks and crafted them into sticks, which retained their lighter coloration. Olivia let out a gasp when she saw them. 

"Wow! You're some crafter, Lukas." He shook his head, chuckling lightly with embarrassment. 

"No, not me." He pocketed the sticks. "It's just a different color, no big deal." Sure, different colored tools and objects were cool, but it did not feel any different to building with oak wood. 

"Well, alright then. Why don't you just stay in town? Those monsters don't spawn here, and you could probably trade your birch stuff for better materials easily." 

"Well, staying in town makes it difficult to get specific materials and build what you want." He understood why people would prefer staying in town, but the restrictive lifestyle did not suit him. To his surprise, she hummed in agreement. 

"Personally, I want to work with redstone, but I never have enough materials to trade when someone comes into town." She sighed, looking downcast. "But I don't know anything about fighting, either. I could never go out there on my own. You wouldn't happen to have any redstone, would you?" _Redstone, huh? She's smarter than she seems._

"Sorry, I don't own any. I'll keep an eye out, though." Olivia wore a resigned smile. 

"I figured as much. You don't look like the type to get your hair dirty in those caves, anyways." Lukas crossed his arms, huffing with indignation. 

 

"Hey, I can get it dirty when I want to! I just prefer building above ground, where I can see creepers coming after me." She only laughed heartily in response. 

"Take it easy! So defensive of your hair." Lukas smirked, but their conversation was interrupted by an annoyed shush from a girl sitting at a nearby table. "Oh, sorry!" Olivia whispered to her. "I promise, I was just about to head down." She turned back to Lukas, face flush with embarrassment. "Sorry about that. Good luck with your research, just holler if you need anything."

"I don't know if she'd let me holler, but thanks." Olivia walked down the stairs, failing to stifle a chuckle. _Now to figure out what's up with these mobs._

He regarded the spines of the books on the shelf, pulling out the first one that looked remotely monster related; "What Hides in the Dark." _I don't expect anything new in here, but I gotta start somewhere,_ he thought, seating himself at an empty table. It was only an introductory book, mentioning the basics; zombies punch, skeletons shot arrows, and creepers exploded. _I learned more about them being out there for a night than I did reading this book._

Returning to the shelf to replace the book with a frustrated sigh, he scanned for one a bit more helpful, pausing dumbstruck at a spine titled, "An Enderman Love Story." Scandalized, he brushed it off as being in the wrong section and settled on _An Encyclopedia to Monsters._ The book was much more comprehensive than the last one, detailing appearance, type of attack, even origin, and the number of attacks from a stone and iron sword that were required to kill one. 

He turned the pages to locate what he needed; "The Enderman." He narrowed his eyes at the entry. It was shorter than the other entries, as if it were incomplete. The handwriting was messy, almost frantically written, and the bottom half of the paragraph was nearly illegible. 

_Height: Three blocks_  
Appearance: Tall, thin, black monster with bright purple eyes. Purple particles emanate from its body.  
Picks up and move blocks.  Hates eye contact, chases humans by teleporting, intimidates by making buzzing noises. Like zombies, attacks by punching. Punches are powerful, do not come in contact with one. 

There were no tips for attacking and no origin. Lukas slammed the book shut, panicked. Memories of Lilie, the nightmare, of the night they encountered the enderman assailed his head. Clutching his face in his hands, he attempted to regain control of his breathing. _Come on, snap out of it! He's gone, now you gotta figure out what's out there before it takes another friend._

Giving himself a few moments to compose himself, he sorted through his thoughts. _Endermen hate eye contact... Does that mean Lilie looked at it?_ Lukas could not fault anybody for looking at the monsters they are running from, but it was good to know for any future encounters. 

Not having the heart to research any more monsters, he decided to shelve the book and call it a day. He was not ever planning on traveling to the hellish dimension, the Nether, that he heard rumors about; endermen seem to be the most dangerous Overworld monsters, and he knows how to avoid them now. He just has to play it safe while building and foraging. 

Lukas made his way down the stairs to a nearly vacant space. Only Olivia remained, invested in a book before noting his approach, relieved. 

"Oh, good. I was just about to come up to make sure a skeleton didn't shoot you." She commented. "It's getting late, are you going to make it home in time?" He looked out the window, surprised to observe brass rays filtering into the room. _I was here for that long?_

"Yeah, I'll be fine, I don't live far from the road." He assured her. "I guess I lost track of time. These books are really... interesting." He stated, recalling the more interesting title on the shelf. Olivia, seemingly oblivious to the more risqué titles in the building, agreed. 

"Aren't they? I feel like I could spend years in here before I get through them all." _And it may be best if you just don't get through them. How easy is it to get a book into this library, anyways?_ Lukas walked to the exit, waving to Olivia over his shoulder. 

"I'll stop by again soon, thanks for the help." Olivia flashed him a grin and waved back. 

"No problem, come back any time!" Smiling, he pushed the door open and started for his cabin, taking time to appraise the town's architecture once more. In some portions of the town, buildings were made of brick and stone brick, with tinted windows. They were not very tall, but the houses were clearly in the process of being improved upon. The town was growing, and with a larger town came more traders for better materials. The roads varied between gravel and various stones, rather than simply being composed of simply gravel. 

Looking upward, Lukas perceived redstone lamps suspended by string, with daylight sensors on top of them. _This town has a lot of these now. A few people must've gone to the Nether._ They were an ideal source of light, casting a large glow, but obtaining the glowstone to make them was perilous. One would have to compete with dangerous mobs, blocks that slow walking speed, and lava. It was even mandatory to travel to the Nether just to create the daylight sensors that turn them on. _This town is really shaping up, now. I'll have to consider visiting more often to trade materials._

The road home, fortunately, was uneventful; Lukas was on track to arrive at the cabin before dusk fell when he spotted a banner hanging on a tree in the forest. The graphic was a sandcastle with a red flag planted on the top. Beneath it, the word 'Endercon' stuck out immediately, the name of the convention held yearly in town. To Lukas and, in essence, everyone else living in and near the town, Endercon was not very interesting. The small population made it difficult to show off anything of value and the guest speakers lacked charisma; the night was only good for socializing, if that. _And it's cruelly named,_ he thought with a scowl. 

Humoring the advertisement, Lukas read the contents. _'Now announcing the First Annual Endercon Building Competition! Winners will have their builds featured at Endercon as well as earning an awesome prize!' Now that sounds pretty sweet,_ he mused, tempted by the competitive building and chance for fame. _This is exactly what the town needs to boost its popularity. Let's see... 'This is a team competition, so if you do not have a team of at least two, there will be a meeting one week before Endercon to meet new builders.'_ He frowned, perturbed. _I guess I'll have to go to that meeting then._ Finding another partner with the same chemistry he and Lilie had would be difficult, but Lukas had to remain optimistic. He was never going to excel as a builder if he did not have somebody there to push him. 

Not wanting to be caught out in the dark, he ran the rest of the way home, resolving to check on the mob grinder he has been avoiding since the night of its completion. If he wanted to attract good builders, he would need the drops from that grinder. And he still owed Petra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the ending feels a bit abrupt, I wanted to get this posted quickly because these next few months will be a bit unpredictable, and everything until now has been somewhat pre-written. I still have the plot planned out, but college will wreck me a little. This WILL be finished 100%... eventually. Set a reminder for five years and forget about this for now if you are impatient (please don't, I won't take THAT long haha). 
> 
> As always, please criticize (I'm not thrilled by the pacing in this one), and I take alternate scene requests and recommendations for future chapters. Have a lovely morning!


	3. Ocelots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plot???
> 
> October 9, 2016. 23:13 GMT

Golden light trickled into the cabin through the eastern window, the natural alarm waking Lukas to a dazed yet relaxed state. Less than twenty-four hours prior, he was stressed, nerves inundated after reliving old memories and learning the extent of dangers from endermen, but excitement for the building competition alleviated his misgivings and spurred him to come to terms with Lilie's death and visit the mob grinder. 

Arching his back to stretch with a groan, Lukas picked himself up from his bed and opened the birch chest a couple blocks away. He pulled out a few apples, a crafting table, birch planks, his bow and arrows, the stone sword, and some diorite in case the grinder needed modifications. Musing over the microscopic likelihood of using his weapons in broad daylight, he exited his room, taking bites from an apple as he walked downstairs. With one last glance over his inventory, he stepped outside. 

Streaks of light shone through gaps in the leaves of surrounding oak and birch, dappled sun reflecting off the surrounding chunks of rotten flesh and bone. The faint fetor of carrion carried on the light breeze. _Last night was cutting it close,_ Lukas reflected; mobs only spawned nearby when he was awake. _I need to keep a closer eye on the sun._ Picking up bones along the way, he apprehensively began his trek to the clearing, taking the overfamiliar path he had avoided for weeks. As he walked, he noted new growth thinning the trail and hindering his pace, blotting out more of the subdued sun. _I'll need to chop some of these b-_

An arrow whizzed less than a block from Lukas' ear, tearing him from his thoughts and rendering him fully alert. Pulling out his bow and an arrow, he rolled forward to take aim, wincing as he landed poorly on his ankle. Turning over his shoulder and pulling back on the bowstring, too panicked to waste time focusing on the target, he fired instinctively, sighing with relief as he heard the 'poof' of death from the skeleton. Lukas carefully picked himself up, testing the weight on his left ankle. _Petra was right about these monsters. They're getting smarter every day, it seems._ The skeleton was not simply wandering aimlessly until it burned; it hid behind a tree and waited until Lukas' back was turned before firing. Narrowing his eyes at the space the skeleton occupied, he turned to continue. 

The trip was not hindered much by his ankle; Lukas had elected to take his time through the woods, scanning behind every tree, bowstring nocked. He was on edge; every sound made him jump. The baby chicken that walked by would have been shot if it was not already on the path. Fortunately, there were no other surprise encounters. He smiled with relief once the trees gave way to clearing, but the high spirits were ephemeral once he looked over to the grinder, or at least what it used to be. 

The pillars, the bridge, the water - all gone, reduced to a few blocks of diorite on the ground. Lukas rushed over to the hole leading to the zombie spawner, distress pervading him as he found much of the diorite lining the hole missing. Even the room was destroyed, with no sign of any zombies roaming the dark space. It smelled faintly of gunpowder. Stunned, he stumbled back to a sitting position , staring at the few remains from weeks of planning and building. _What happened here? How... how could it all just be gone?_ With a heavy sigh, he desperately wondered how he was going to break the news to Petra; there would not be any grinding for loot or materials. 

"Hey! Looks like the pipsqueak finally showed up!" The sonorous, gruff voice rang across the clearing, startling Lukas, who scrambled to pick himself up with chagrin, pulling out his bow while cautiously eyeing the newcomers. Three burly men clad in varying shades of emerald walked toward him, smirks plastered on their faces. The same man, the one who left the remark before, spoke again. "What, you gonna poke us with your toothpick? You're in no condition to fight him," he gestured to the guy on his right; he was younger looking than the other two, could not have been older than Lukas, but he agreed that the guy was not somebody he would like to grapple with. "Let alone all three of us." Lukas took a short step back, arrow still turned on the enclosing group. 

"What did you guys do to my build?" Lukas endeavored to sound demanding, but his voice faltered as his steps, and he cursed his trepidation for betraying him. The assumed leader only laughed. 

"Your build? Listen, we've been running this neck of the woods for a while. Then you and your buddy come along with that tower thing. But we're nice people. Respectable people. We let it be." Lukas' eyes narrowed. _Nobody owns these woods, don't make it sound like you guys are being generous!_ The younger man on his right continued. 

"You guys finish whatever it is, and don't even bother-" He was cut off by a shove from the guy in the middle, looking livid, as the third watched the two in amusement. 

"Hey! He wasn't asking you, runt!" He stumbled aside and seemed to consider arguing, but elected to hold his tongue, crossing his arms and turning away, unibrow furrowed in frustration. The longer Lukas sat in the clearing, the more anxious he became. Even within the group, there was something to fear, and he worried that he was overstaying their magnanimous visit. The leering eyes faced Lukas again, voice sending chills down his spine. "We saw a poster for that building competition, and realized we don't got any stuff to build with." Mouth agape, Lukas' eyes flickered back to the few remaining diorite. _All of our work, gone in a day? For them to build in the competition?!_

"No... " He faced the group again, consternation suppressed, with what he hoped to be an intimidating glare. "Do you jerks even know what you blew up? This thing was a zombie grinder!" The lackeys wore puzzled expressions, comprehension only dawning on the center man. 

"Uh, what's that, Sloan?" The younger griefer spoke up, earning a vitriolic look from the apparent leader, Sloan. 

"Are you an idiot?" His eyes trained on Lukas again as he addressed his team. "It's a cheap way to get loot, letting the monsters fall to their deaths instead of fighting them like real men. That explains all the iron and rotten flesh." Lukas felt his knees weaken in indignation. _Cheap? By getting the loot safely while I build?_ "Funny how you guys finish it and don't show up 'til that competition. Where's your little buddy, anyways? Come on, we're just having a conversation, no need to get so quiet." Lukas stepped back, trembling slightly. _Come on, Lukas! They're just trying to get to you. They're just-_

The trio took a few steps forward, forcing Lukas backward. He was rendered mute, resolve failing. _They can't know what happened... can they?_ "Hehe... you're looking a little pale, sm- "

"Hey, you guys leave him alone!" The griefers froze, expressions shifting almost comically from predacious to petrified upon hearing the newcomer. _Wait, is that- ?_

"P- Petra! You're friends with this runt?" Sloan asked, visibly shaken and smaller, team reflecting the worry his voice betrayed. Lukas craned his neck to view the ginger walking over, pickaxe slung over her shoulder, murderous look in her eyes, relieved the look would only ever be aimed at his adversaries and not himself. 

"Yeah, so why don't you guys back off! We've been through this! Unless you guys don't need my services anymore." Lukas's solace was overshadowed by bewilderment. _Services? She deals with people like this?_ His thoughts were interrupted by Sloan's impetuous venture to make amends with Petra. 

"Of course we still need them! Hehe, we were just messing around with your little buddy, right?" He wore a weak smile, looking to his cronies, who nodded vigorously. Petra merely shook her head in disdain. 

"You guys need to stop throwing your weight around. Keep yourselves in line, or the deal's off." She turned to walk back to the caves, passing with a slight inclination to Lukas that might have meant for him to follow. With one final glance back to the griefers, walking back to the portion of the woods they emerged from, he walked after Petra, struggling to keep apace with his impaired ankle. 

"What the heck was that about?" He demanded, stupefied by the exchange. "Why would you ever set up some 'deal' with those jerks, let alone talk to them?" 

"'Hey, thanks for saving me back there, Petra!' Yeah, no problem, Lukas!" Her voice was full of rancor, catching Lukas unawares. He sighed and stopped walking. 

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, thank you, Petra." He strove to keep the edge out of his voice to keep his apology sincere with little success, persisting adrenaline keeping him roused. "Now, can you please tell me what's up with those guys?" She halted and spun to face him, expression mirroring the glower she had given earlier. 

"Lukas- !" She exhaled, shaking her head, voice softening a little. "Have you forgotten how I live? I get rare materials for people in exchange for basic supplies or other rare stuff. I like living this way. I like getting into danger, I like finding cool stuff, and I like making deals with people rather than doing the boring collecting myself." Petra's motivations did not ease his mind at all; he found it frustrating that she would stubbornly throw herself into danger just because it is more exciting than living safe. _These people could be prepared to kill her, just for her stuff!_

"And how do you know you aren't just walking into a death trap with every deal you make?" If she did not think the griefers were a big deal when it came to acquiring supplies, Lukas did not want to see the kinds of people that could potentially scare even Petra. 

"I don't care who I deal with as long as they give me what they owe me, " she countered, frustration creeping into her tone. "I have something to offer people: survival skills. I can kill any monster and dig as deep as I want because I have experience. Crossing or killing me would make the job impossible for them next time. I'm more valuable than the stuff they want, and they always pay up." Lukas stared at the ground, unable to come up with a response that could convince his friend. Sure, Petra was great at surviving, even teaching Lukas how to avoid dying on his own, but he worried that she did not spend enough time looking after herself. 

"I... I know, I just- "

"Worry about me? Stop bothering. You and Lilie would always go on about how dangerous everything was, it really psyches me out. And to top it all off, you guys keep getting into stuff like this!" Irritation rose in Lukas at the suggestion. _Stop worrying about my friend? Especially after what happened to Lilie?_ He narrowed his eyes at Petra. Sure, he was not the best at surviving, but he liked to think that he cared about his friends. He would not stand by and encourage his friends to get into danger, not anymore. 

"Fine! If you want to keep getting yourself into these deals, I can't stop you. But I won't sit and watch you deal with these monsters and dangerous people." Not awaiting Petra's response, Lukas took to the woods, too impassioned to care for the throbbing in his ankle. If she said anything else, he did not listen for it, but she did not bother following him. _Good. I don't have to take this from her. Getting herself into danger and blaming me for all these problems._

Ignoring his surroundings, Lukas marched on, warmth and light from the near overhead sun not reaching his navy eyes. Glowering straight ahead on the diminishing path as an indefinite amount of time passed, he overlooked the horizontal trunk of wood, stumbling over it and landing ungracefully on the ground. 

"Ow... " He sat up, rubbing his ankle, and faced the offending tree indignant, noting after a moment that the trunk, in fact the entire forest, had shifted from oak to jungle. _Wait... Did I go the wrong way?_ Lukas knew there was a jungle a few hours walk from town, but it was in the opposite direction of his cabin. In his frustration, he failed to notice he was walking into the jungle until it was already upon him. _Great. If I found a skeleton in a regular forest, I'm going to find hordes of mobs in these thick shadows._

Peering back at the route he arrived from, jungle wood and vines went back as far as he could see. Groaning, he brought his attention back to the incessant throbbing in his ankle, noticeable now that his vexation has dissipated . _I can't walk back on this, it'll get dark before I reach the clearing._ With disinclined resolve to stay overnight in the jungle, he pulled out his birch wood planks and got to work at a basic shelter as quickly as he could manage. 

Glancing warily at where he assumed was the sun through the impassable leaves, he frowned at the nearly complete makeshift hut. He did not take a count of the number of planks he had and, at this rate, he was going to run out. Unwilling to add just a wall of diorite out of principle, Lukas redesigned the hut, incorporating the stone into the base of the birch walls and corners of the hut. He placed his crafting table, and with his leftover diorite, he crafted them into stone stairs for the roof. Satisfied with the improved appearance of the shelter, he was about to craft the door when he heard movement and a yowl from just outside the empty doorway. 

_What was that?_ Peering outside at the darkened forest, Lukas made out a group of zombies closing in. Heart skipping, he realized they were not after him, but a small spotted animal, yelling and clawing at those that got too close to it. _An ocelot!_ He had heard about the animals, but had never journeyed to the jungle to see one with his own eyes. 

The wild cat was outnumbered and outmatched, but it continued fighting back. _It'll get killed if I don't do something!_ Filled with dread, Lukas stared ahead, gritting his teeth as his mental conflict played out. Flinching as the closer zombie threw a punch at the ocelot, he willed himself into action. _It's just a few zombies, right? I can take them!_ Pulling out his bow, he aimed with a shaky hand at the closest zombie. Hesitating to shift his weight onto his right foot, he released the string, catching the zombie in the arm. Before it could reach him, he fired two more, exhaling as it poofed out of existence, feeling a cursory reprieve. 

The cluster of zombies rasped angrily, now all facing Lukas, trodding toward him, ocelot nowhere in sight. _No,_ he thought desperately, taking uneven steps back. _Did they already-_ A yowl interrupted his thoughts; he looked over his shoulder to find the ocelot at the unfinished doorway. Pocketing his bow as he ran, he stumbled onto the crafting table inside the hut. Shakily using the last of his birch planks to craft a door, he relied on muscle memory in the near pitch dark space. Once the doors were completed, he placed one in the entryway just as the first zombie was about to breech the threshold. Breathing a sigh of relief, he sat against the wall opposite of the banging door, regarding the spotted cat that padded over to him. 

"You got yourself into a lot of trouble," he remarked once the banging from the door ceased. The ocelot only meowed, stretching out in a long yawn before curling up next to Lukas. "Reminds me a bit of Petra," he thought aloud. "I wish she wouldn't be so stubborn about having a friend around. She gets herself into danger and brushes it off like we shouldn't worry about her." He laid down on the grassy floor; a minor comfort for the impending sleepless night. "Well, she'll have to try harder than that. I'm not about to let this happen to any of my friends again."

-

Lukas was finishing the last of his apples when the ocelot woke up and stretched itself out. _Lucky cat,_ he thought as he watched it stand up and pad to the door. _What I wouldn't give to have slept in a bed after last night._ Standing up, he tested his weight on his left foot, and walked to the exit, satisfied that his ankle was feeling much better after rest and some food. He opened the door and pulled his bow out, wary of monsters that could be out in the thick jungle. The ocelot bounded ahead of him, ears pricked. The duo stood at attention for a few moments before the ocelot bounded ahead, satisfied that there was no danger nearby. Lukas followed, recognizing the trail as the direction he arrived from. _I don't mind sticking around with this ocelot a bit longer, as long as I don't stray from the way home._

After a few minutes of picking their way through dense foliage and vines, the ocelot slipped into a gap between the trees on the path. Wavering with a look around to remember where he was, Lukas followed. A couple more minutes of walking through the trees, and Lukas taking note of every landmark they pass, and the space opened up nearly to a clearing. There was a sizeable, clear pond lit up by sunlight that filtered through the few trees blocking it. The air was clear of any rotting flesh, and many of the taller, surrounding jungle trees were filled with cocoa pods. _This is beautiful!_

The ocelot ran ahead to the water where Lukas noticed five or six others were already standing at, muted pastel pelts blending with the dappled sunlight that lit the grass. The cats nuzzled each other before crouching by the water again. _It's not a loner! The little guy just got split up from his friends._ Before long, one of the cats clawed at the water, pulling out a fish. _This must be paradise for them. They get to catch all the fish they can eat, and the area is defensible. I had a hard time getting here in daylight_ with _an escort._ Contented after watching the cats, walked toward the exit, but shot back around after he heard a yowl from one of the ocelots. He was relieved to find, however, that there was no present danger; just the ocelot he rescued before, clutching a fish between its jaws. 

"Thank you for showing me this place." He crouched down to accept the gift. "Don't give your friends too much trouble, you hear?" The ocelot meowed almost dismissively and trotted back to the pond once again. Smiling, Lukas walked back to the cluster of trees he entered from and began his trek back to the path, resolved to find Petra once he arrived back in familiar territory. _I can't change who she is, but I can make things right again._

-

A few hours later, Lukas picks his was back to the clearing, breathing a sigh of relief after the trip through the trees. _Feels good to finally see the sun again._ Knowing that he would not see Petra outside of the mines, he looked around anyways, uncomfortable with the thought of going underground. Seeing that he had no choice, he reluctantly made his way over to the cave that she frequented. _Ugh, I haven't had to go down here in weeks..._

Carefully picking his way through the tunnel, he intended to reach where Petra kept her chests, knowing that she would not bother mining at any depth above them anymore; she had no use for the plentiful amounts of coal, seeking the rarer iron, gold, and diamond. Making his way around the last turn, Lukas spotted her sorting through one of the chests. _Uh oh,_ he thought, considering whether he should just turn and run back home. _I don't know what I'm going to say to her! She still hates me!_

"What is it, Lukas?" She said dismissively, standing up with arms crossed, iron pickaxe still in hand. She wore a blank face, but Lukas knew her enough to know she meant business. 

"Uh... " _Oh yeah. I'm screwed._ Petra's eyebrows furrowed. _Now or never._ "I just... wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have snapped at you, or misjudged you. But I'll still be here, and I want you to be safe." He hesitantly watched Petra's face, but aside from the lowered eyebrows she remained expressionless. "So... uh... " _Come on, Petra! Let's move past this!_ "Are we cool?"

Petra's façade broke as she began chuckling, eyes full of mirth. "Of course we are, silly." Lukas was incredulous. _That was just an act?_ "You think one silly argument is going to ruin our friendship?" She ruffled his hair, to Lukas' disdain, who quickly worked to groom it to a passable condition. 

"But you were _mad._ How are you so willing to make up after just a day?" If there was one thing Lukas knew Petra could do, it was holding a grudge. If someone crossed her, it was not easy to get back on her good side. 

"Same reason as you. Because you're my friend. Come to think of it, I'm surprised you came back so soon. You looked _angry._ " Lukas blinked in surprise. He was worked up, but he did not see himself looking like Petra the day before. "Like, scary angry. Maybe you should come along for my deals after all." 

"No, I don't think that would me necessary," he responded with a light chuckle. "After the whole griefer thing, and thinking about Lilie, I just had to do some thinking, have some time to myself." 

"Me too. I said a lot of stuff I didn't mean, and I thought a lot about what you said." She scratched the back of her head. "I'm sorry too, Lukas. I do prefer my own company, but I should be a bit more careful about how I make these deals. I was just really heated up, ya' know?" Lukas nodded. The griefers did not leave a positive impression with him after they showed up. "Some girl cheaped me out of some chickens a few days ago, and then that whole mob grinder ordeal happened- "

"Which I fully intend to pay you back for," Lukas cut in. "I still owe you for all that- "

"Don't worry about it," Petra interjected, shaking her head. Before Lukas could speak up, she continued. "You never came back to it, so you don't know. That thing worked, Lukas! I collected from it each day. A lot of it was just junk I didn't need, but some of those zombies wore armor! I got some good stuff for that- "

"Wait, you traded the armor? Instead of using it?" Lukas wanted to retract his previous statements. Petra was officially crazy. "And you didn't even tell me the grinder was working?"

"Hey, don't look at me like that! I don't even get hit by mobs anymore, armor would just weigh me down. I needed the supplies more. And- " She looked at Lukas, expression guarded, almost worried for his reaction. "You never went back to it. I hoped you would be able to move on and not deal with old memories." Lukas reluctantly had to agree. "And those griefers kept showing their faces around that thing. I didn't want you to get caught up with them like yesterday. I'm sorry, I should've told you." He sighed, looking away with arms crossed. 

"It's alright, Petra. You have a point. I just gotta move past it, right?" Building without his old friend was difficult to move past, but he still had a friend in Petra. 

"Exactly. I know it must be hard on you, you've got a soft heart." Her expression instantly shifted to realization. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She walked back over to one of the chests and opened it, pulling out a gold block. 

"You got a gold block?!" Lukas stepped closer, looking at himself in the reflective block. "How did you get this?" 

"Made it from the grinder. You'll be surprised how much iron and gold can add up over a few weeks." She handed it to Lukas. "You should keep it." 

"Wha- No, you can't- "

"I don't care. I want you to keep it." Lukas tore his eyes back to Petra, shocked. _An entire gold block?_ "You can't keep using the fact that you building it is reward enough. That grinder gave me a lot of good stuff, don't worry about me missing out." 

"Wow, okay. Thanks, Petra." Giving the gold one last long look, he pocketed the block. "I could use this for that building competition coming up." 

"Building competition?" She was thoughtful for a moment. "Was that what those guys were going on about? They needed some blocks the other day for that thing. I thought it wasn't for a few weeks." 

"Yeah, but there's going to be a meeting to form teams in a few days," Lukas answered with a bit of reluctance. "I have to impress two other people to even compete." 

"Well, I know you'll do fine." Lukas frowned disbelievingly. "Come on, you built that grinder, right? Plus, you have access to plenty of materials from outside of town. That puts you ahead of a lot of your competition." He shrugged. 

"I guess you've got a point. I'll let you know how it goes, okay?" He was dubious of his ability to impress the other competitors. The idea of the building competition was looking less exciting by the day. "See ya, Petra." He gave a wave and turned to walk back to the surface. 

"See ya around, Lukas," came Petra's reply. Thoughts of the upcoming meeting filling his mind, Lukas navigated his way through the branching tunnel system again. _What is wrong with me? I know I can build,_ he assured himself. _So why am I getting worked up over this meeting?_ Even so, he still worried that he would not be able to find enough people for his team and be excluded from the competition. _This would be a lot less stressful if I already had a partner walking in, like I'm sure many others are._

Lukas reached the mouth of the cave, peering up to look at the sun. _Already nearing sunset._ He wanted to double check the moon phase before going to bed; the meeting was set to happen on the day of the full moon. To pass the time, he decided to clear out some of the extra growth in the forest to stock up on planks and avoid any unwanted encounters. Recalling that he left the old crafting table at the hut in the jungle, he grimaced and began punching a nearby birch tree to get enough planks for a table and sticks for an axe. 

_I don't have any more stone for this axe..._ He looked through his inventory again. His only options were either to punch another block or see if diorite would work as a substitute. He pulled out three diorite blocks and two sticks. _Here goes._ He placed them onto the crafting table, breath held, and to his amazement the recipe worked. He picked it up excitedly, inspecting the blade closer. With a birch handle and diorite head, it could be mistaken as a brightly lit axe from a distance. _So this doesn't just work with wooden materials,_ he thought, turning to finish off the tree he half punched. _Awesome!_

The axe was not any faster than an ordinary stone axe, but it was a superior alternative to the wooden axe he would have been forced to make. Lukas made quick work of the overgrown forest path, focusing mainly on the oak trees to replenish his apple stock. Once sunset hit, he made his way back to the cabin with no problem, and stored his materials, weapons, and food in the appropriate chests. He checked the window by his bed, where he could barely catch the first beams of moonlight. _A waxing crescent..._ He took a deep breath and finally laid back on his own bed, exhausted. _Three more days..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I suck at life, other unforeseen obligations have come up (nothing bad, just more time commitments :p ). This will be finished; just not until my time management gets better. I appreciate your patience and continued support for this :)
> 
> Lovely spoopy art.   
> http://beatsbycendre.deviantart.com/art/Jesse-and-Lukas-Commission-638940870

**Author's Note:**

> Please be critical of everything – the sentence structure, spelling, language, plot, characterization, formatting, you name it. I’m writing this to get better at writing as well as fulfilling my strange fascination with the series, and I’ve never written a competent fic (if you couldn’t tell by seeing my older works). Please give me constructive feedback, I don't feel very confident in that ending. 
> 
> Don’t worry about the OC, he was the only one I was planning on including in here. It made sense to me that Lukas would get his fear of monsters from somewhere; it was strange to see people like Olivia keeping their cool better in those situations, so something had to have happened to Lukas. This is my interpretation. I'm sorry ;( (Bonus points to anyone who can figure out his full name and its significance). 
> 
> The cookie stone thing is just one of those things from playing Minecraft with friends that I wanted to incorporate. If you have anything you would like to see in future chapters, leave suggestions! Maybe the ideas will inspire me to dedicate more time ;) I also can do different choice requests. For example, if you want to see what would happen if Lukas said something different or just suddenly decided to jump off the grinder to his death, I can rewrite that scene in another fic. 
> 
> Have a lovely time playing Episode 7! I need to sleep, I've been awake waiting too long xD help me


End file.
